GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA – MARCH 12: ACC Commissioner John Swofford speaks to the media ahead of the quarterfinal round of the 2020 ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament at the Greensboro Coliseum on March 12, 2020 in Greensboro, Carolina from North. Swofford addressed the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and the impact it will have on the rest of the ACC Tournament. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton / Getty Images)
John Swofford has never worried about ACC football.
Reports came out Friday that the ACC would allow an “unconditional” option for Notre Dame in 2020 that would provide them with a full ACC schedule and allow them to be eligible for the ACC championship game.
John Swofford announced his retirement just over a month after the end of the 2020-2021 sports calendar. He will have served as ACC Commissioner for 24 years when he finally resigns and cannot arrive soon enough.
We all know, aside from UNC and Duke, Swofford has never been concerned with ACC in general. Everything he has done during his two decades of service has benefited the UNC and Duke Basketball programs and not much else.
ACC, SEC, and Big XII have yet to announce what their plans are for this soccer season, but they are likely to follow the pattern that Big 10 and Pac-12 have recently announced, with one exception: ACC and SEC are allegedly on Talks to enable a “plus one” model that allows rivals to play against each other outside of their respective conferences for Clemson / South Carolina, FSU / Florida and Louisville / Kentucky rivalries to play in 2020.
ACC needs to force his hand on Notre Dame.
As we know, in 2012, Notre Dame joined the conference in all sports except soccer. John Swofford agreed to allow the Irish to maintain their independence in football and should allow them to maintain that independence in 2020.
The Irish should be forced to play at other independent schools like BYU, Liberty, Army, New Mexico State, UConn and UMass, even if their soccer programs are based on FCS.
Giving Notre Dame a pass for 2020 really shows how little Swofford cares about programs that give their all for the conference and wave the conference flag every year, whether good or bad.
If the ACC was ever going to have the negotiating power to force Notre Dame to the conference full time, it is now. The Irish know that if they can’t play a conference schedule in 2020, they have zero chance of making the college football playoffs in 2020, and Swofford should use that to their advantage.
While this would not eliminate all meaningless movement, Swofford, as it did for the past quarter century, would allow him to come out with a bang, a noise he has never made in 24 years at the helm of ACC.
